New Pension Minister

Torsten Bell MP was appointed Parliamentary Secretary in HM Treasury and Parliamentary Under Secretary of State in the Department for Work and Pensions on 14 January 2025.

One of the Minister’s first tasks was to report on the annual statutory review of the thresholds for automatic enrolment (AE).

The review concluded that all AE thresholds for 2025/26 should remain unchanged from their 2024/25 levels, which are as follows:

• AE earnings trigger – £10,000

• Lower limit of the qualifying earnings band – £6,240

• Upper limit of the qualifying earnings band – £50,270

This creates a real term decrease as wages continue to grow, not a positive step for member outcomes, however, perhaps not surprising on the back of the NI changes to employers and the need to balance these costs.